Portland: Epilogue

In the early morning of Jan 2, Naoko took me to the airport and I left Portland.

This Portland trip was plain awesome. Portland is a beautiful city.

I just wish there are more sunny days. I appreciate the sunny LA whole a lot more.

The train ride was definitely worth it.

For the time, comfort and the view, everything about it I liked more than an airplane. Hands down.

Look how roomy my legs were compared to the seat flight home.

<Train Coach Seat>

<Plane Economy Seat>

Although I can see myself living in Portland if there is a really good job for me, I still love LA.

LA is my home now. I felt great sense of comfort when I saw the city as the plane approached LAX.

Smog and all. I love LA.

Portland 7

Before we went back home, we took a walk around the reservoir to burn off whatever we just ate.

Beautiful day to walk around.



And then we headed to Zuppan. North Western version of Whole Foods, I guess.

 Well, the plan was to eat some local salmon, since they are supposedly amazing.

But the dude at the fish station told us that it's out of season. FAIL.

He also told us that I can't take pictures. So I kept taking them.

ME NO ENGRISH.

I'm really impressed with Portland's love for beer.



I picked up a wine from Portland.

... Or so I thought.

Wait... It's from Portugal!! LOL



We gave up on an idea of salmon and resorted to local pork. Naoko made delicious Pork Cutlet.

YUM!!



Since it was my last night in Portland, we spent the whole night just chatting on a kitchen table.

Thank you SO MUCH, Rice family. You made my trip amazing!!

Portland 6

On New Years Day, we drove about 45 minutes from Portland to Multnomah Waterfall.

It must be my karma... this day was actually sunny!

I see it!!



It's so much bigger in person. Dynamic. The scale of nature scares me sometimes.

But it was definitely purifying experience. 

For lunch, we came back to the city and went to a local microbrewery.

It's actually a bike bar!

Lots of selections

The most interesting part was that they had a "kids section." Kids can come with adults and they can even play in the corner. Why they don't do that in LA?! It's a brilliant idea.

Apparently, most of microbreweries in Portland are kids friendly.

I got the sampler. This whole thing was $8.50. Harro!! I need to live here!!

The food was okay. Regular bar food. I got a portobello mushroom sandwich and tomato curry soup.

Safe to say I was very full after this.





Portland 5

My appetite during this vacation was off the chart.

We just finished lunch but we went to the market for the dinner.

Japanese market in the North West region: Uwajimaya

It's just like the Japanese markets in LA, but half of the customers were not Asian.  

Fish section was pretty good.



And they had interesting beers here too.

Naoko took me to a Buddhist temple that night.
It's a Japanese tradition to go to a temple on NYE (although I haven't followed this tradition for YEARS).
It was a small temple but it was very refreshing to hear the reverend's speech.
And we actually got to ring a bell at the temple too! Cool beans.

The New Year's Eve dinner was a traditional Japanese soba noodle and sashimi.

Naoko and I enjoyed watching a Japanese program all night (Thank you, Justin!) and barely managed to stay awake until midnight. We were mesmerized by Dick Clark's orangeness.



Portland 4

Instead of food trucks in LA, Portland has food carts. 

Bunch of carts line up on empty lots in the city. A lot of them were closed, as it was a NYE, but the cart itself stayed there. That's the biggest difference between food trucks and food carts, I think. In LA, you gotta move the truck if you ain't there.

The cuisine for food carts varies, from Mexican to Asians. Lots of Thai carts.

And you can even get Pho at a Vietnamese cart!

Street car in the city. This city is really like a mini version of San Francisco.



For lunch, we went to Elephant Delicatessen.

This sign can be seen on most of restaurants and bars. Whatever that means.



So many selections from healty to not-so healthy gourmet foods.



Woo! Wine tasting! Yes please.



So I went for the most unhealthy choices ever. So good, though.

This Mac'N Cheese was super creamy and rich and tasty and fattening.

Portland 3

 As we drove around the town, we drove by the infamous Voo Doo Donuts.

So I had to take pictures.

But no way I was gonna stand in line for donuts.

It looked like it's just all hype, but I could also just be a hater.



And then we took a walk along the river.



It's too bad that the weather was gloomy, but this is the norm in Portland.

So I'm glad I got to experience the city in its usual form.

Still a beautiful city. I love that there are bridges everywhere.

I bet the Portland governor had a bridge fetish back in the day.

6 bridges in one river? Really?

This is my winter gear. I got lots of compliments on my ear muff.